Let the Good Times Roll
Chapter 11
Good To Be Back
Mara's POV
I woke up after Peanut. His bed was empty and I sat up, scanning the room for him. I heard the water running so I figured that he was in the bathroom. I decided to lie back down and I stared at the ceiling.
I had slept very well; usually if I slept I had nightmares. But this had been a good sleep where I hadn't had any nightmares and I didn't have trouble sleeping.
It felt good.
When the bathroom door opened Peanut walked in while trying to pull his shirt on. I just raised an eyebrow and he just shrugged it off. Then I got to watch as he did his hair, which took much longer than it did for me to do my hair. All I did was brush my hair and then I was done, Peanut used hair products…. I laughed at him and teased him for it too. But that's because I'm me.
"Ah, shuddup bout it already." Peanut muttered as we clomped down the stairs.
"Mornin!" called Annie from the table as we entered the dining room. Diana wasn't in there, but a man was. I guessed this was Peanut's dad seeing as how he looked like an older version of Peanut.
"Mornin." replied Peanut while the man, most likely his father, stared at me. I started back.
"Mara, stop staring at my dad and eat." Peanut commanded me as he tossed an apple at me. I caught it and took a crunchy bite of it.
"Who's your friend?" Peanut's dad asked curiously.
"This is Mara, she stayed the night cause she was bein an idiot and got kicked outta the girls dorm." Peanut replied with a grin. I frowned.
"I wasn't being an idiot, I was just showing my personality." I huffed.
"So… an idiot." Peanut teased. I pouted but said nothing in return.
"Well, I'm Larry's dad, Paul." Paul held his hand out, ignoring the exchange between Peanut and I.
"Sup, I'm Mara." I greeted, not taking his hand to shake. I was not a handshake person. Paul nodded while retracting his hand and looked at his paper. I looked at Peanut.
"So…. class?" I questioned. Peanut shrugged.
"I was thinkin of skipping since Johnny's probably hidin from ya for the day, or tryin to clean his place up. Either way that means he's hidin." Peanut answered. I snorted.
"Hiding from me? What am I going to do, kill him?" I questioned. Peanut snorted this time.
"No, but Johnny's place is a mess. It'll be a miracle if he gets it all cleaned up before ya get there tonight." Peanut replied. I just shook my head in reply.
We left Peanut's house soon after and we just walked around New Coventry. We had to run away from cops twice, but it was still pretty fun. Then we headed out to get something to eat. But then when it got late, things got a little weird.
Peanut escorted me to Johnny's apartment after dinner. Peanut looked a bit nervous as he led me there. I was cool with the arrangements, but I suppose I was always cool. I never fretted, did I?
Johnny answered his door when we reached his house and Peanut handed me off to Johnny, making a crack about how it was like babysitting. I had sworn at him briefly about it, but I was joking. And by now, they knew when I was and wasn't joking around.
"So, make yourself at home I s'ppose." Johnny said as we entered his apartment. It was a bit cluttered with things all over the place, but I expected a mess. His apartment was similar to Peanut's room, full of things I would expect the greasers to have.
"I've never had no one sleep here, so I ain't got nowhere for you ta sleep…" Johnny trailed awkwardly, before he gestured to the couch which had a few things on the floor next to it, "I'm taking the couch, I cleared some stuff off it."
"It's fine," I automatically argued, "I'll take the couch. It's your apartment, take your bed."Johnny sighed.
"Mara, I ain't taking the bed, you're takin the bed whether you wanna or not." he growled. I frowned.
"No, I'm not. It's your apartment, take the bed." I snapped.
"Mara, I'm, damn it. Either ya take the bed or we're both not goin ta be sleeping on it." Johnny muttered crossly. I smirked.
"Looks like no one is getting the bed." I replied, and Johnny sighed again.
"Mara, just take the damn bed. I ain't going ta argue with ya no more." Johnny ordered, sitting on the couch and glaring at me.
"Fine, but I'm not sleeping until later, it's only like…" I looked around for a clock, eventually I found one hanging on the wall, "Eight, that hasn't been the time I go to sleep for years." I actually never went to sleep at eight; I always went to sleep late.
"Fine, what're you gonna do until then?" Johnny questioned, I could already tell that he was annoyed. Although, I was slightly ticked off that he refused to let me take the couch.
"Fuck around." I replied, shrugging. Johnny choked at my wording and looked extremely awkward after that. I snorted.
"Johnny-boy, you know that's not how it's meant." I snapped. Johnny's face turned slightly pink and he looked away.
"Yeah, I know that." replied Johnny a moment later. I sighed and walked over to a random pile of things that Johnny had in the corner. I started picking through it, only for Johnny to protest. I suppose for the rest of the day we just bickered and argued. Like usual.
0o0o0o0o0o
When I finally decided I would try sleeping, I tried taking the couch. Of course we had an argument once again and the argument ended with us in awkward sleeping arrangements. Because neither of us wanted the other to sleep on the floor, Johnny and I somehow come up with the ridiculous idea of splitting the bed in half. We were lucky that Johnny's bed wasn't extremely small, because the line of pillows that served as a wall between the two of us wasn't exactly amazing.
Johnny as I found out, didn't like sleeping curled up, which was the first problem. I didn't always curl up, but if I had a soft pillow I would do so. And we had split the bed so that we each had a square, either the top half or the bottom half since it would have been too fucking awkward for us to have split it the normal way. It was obviously my idea to split it this way.
Our second problem is that it was seriously weird for us to both end up staring at each other from across the pillow barricade. I mean, I hated sleeping in general. I hated the fact that it required me being left to my thoughts. But having a staring contest with Johnny was almost worse, because if there was one person that I could ever feel extremely awkward with was Johnny.
And if you don't understand why, think Valentine's Day and you'll probably get the idea why this situation is awkward.
Anyway, an hour must have passed between us. All we had been doing was sitting there staring at each other like the other was an alien. Johnny had obviously had enough of it, because he tried to start a conversation.
"Can't sleep?" he asked. I blinked, and then nodded.
"Yeah, I've got insomnia. I just can't sleep." I replied quietly. Johnny nodded in response.
"I see… hey Mara, there's a question that's been buggin me." Johnny commented.
"And the question is?" I inquired.
"I was thinkin back to when you had kicked my pa's ass… before that he said he knew ya dad? What was that bout?" questioned Johnny. I sighed. I had almost forgotten about that. When his dad had recognized me as my father's kid.
"My dad's well known to certain people." I answered vaguely.
"And these people are?" Johnny pushed.
"Not good people, he's known to his clients, his group, and his competition." I added.
"Can't ya just give a straight answer?" Johnny demanded. I sighed again.
"This topic isn't pleasant, and I hate talking about it." I said, looking up at the ceiling as I rolled over onto my back, my legs dangling off the bed limply.
"But, if you're so determined, my dad's know by his clients because he's supposedly the best of the best. He's known by his competition for the same reason. I suppose he's known by the cops too, because he gets into a lot of shit. But that's my dad, he and his gang." I answered. Johnny took a moment to process this. But I didn't let him say anything.
"My mom never liked the gang; they were a bunch of rough assholes. But she dealt with them. She wasn't a fighter; she was more of a looker. I look like her, I have her black hair, her facial shape, her pale skin tone, and we both had the same physical appearance. Tall, thin, and curvy where it counts. But she had purple eyes, not weird colored like mine. Of my two parents, my mom was my favorite. But, she died when I was a kid. So it was just me, my dad, and a gang of tough assholes." I explained slowly. I hated telling Johnny this. I hated it. But, I just couldn't stop myself from pouring this out. I could never tell Lexi, she's too softhearted. She never got to learn about my family, and I never let her. I suppose it felt pretty good to let it all out.
"My mom got sick when I was little. She was a good mom still. Whenever I'm near the graveyard she's in, I visit her grave. I still always wish that my dad had died instead of her." I said, rolling over so that I was facing away from Johnny.
"Mara-" I didn't let Johnny continue.
"I'm going to sleep now. This topic is unsettling, do me a favor and don't bring it up again. Or tell anyone." I ordered as I closed my eyes.
Usually when I closed my eyes for sleep, all I ever saw were nightmares. Horrible things that made me want to never sleep again. But, something this time was stopping that.
I don't know if it was the fact that I could identify Johnny's room as somewhere safe like I had done with Peanut's room. Or perhaps it was because Johnny was so close, and if I needed help, he'd be right there.
I slept better than I had in my entire life.
0o0o0o0o00o0o0o0o0o0o
The next morning I woke up late. I obviously decided to skip classes since it was noon when I woke up so I had already missed the first class. I changed in the bathroom and then Johnny and I goofed off all day. Then that night, much like how we had planned, me, him and Peanut stayed at the abandoned tenements.
"Cozy." I snickered as we made three makeshift beds out of couch cushions and other various shit we could find.
"Which one're ya takin Mara?" Peanut questioned me. I looked between each bed.
"I chose that one." I announced dramatically, pointing at the bed that was in the middle. The beds were probably spaced out about two or so feet away from each other. Maybe less.
"Alright." the two boys agreed, each taking their beds. I sat down on mine and ran my hands through my hair, untangling it. I placed my beanie next to me as I rolled my sleeves up a bit. I could feel Johnny's dark gaze on my wrists where he knew scars were, but I ignored it.
"Say Mara, why do ya always wear that beanie?" Peanut suddenly asked. I blinked and turned my head to look between my beanie and Peanut.
"It was my mom's before she died." I answered, somewhat quietly.
"Sorry." was Peanut's only response.
"It's fine, not like I'm the only one. Suppose it feels like it though." I murmured.
"Feels like it?" Johnny was the one to ask this time.
"I used to feel like I was the only one." I admitted, "Only one who went through it. But not everyone has a perfect family." Johnny and Peanut nodded. I sighed and leaned back and stared at the ceiling. There was a patched up hole right above me. I considered moving my bed incase that hole decided to collapse on me, but chose not to move.
It was peaceful. And nice I guess.
I liked the feeling.
Lexi's POV
I paced around Mara's room anxiously. The fact that Mara wasn't here was killing me slowly on the inside. I was worried about her. Sure, I trusted Johnny and Peanut, but I just didn't like that Mara wasn't in her room in the school where it was safe.
"Miss Hutchark." I heard suddenly, making me jump. I turned to find the dorm manager, Mrs. Peabody.
"O-oh! Mrs. Peabody, it there anything you need?" I squeaked.
"Where has Miss Akuma been staying during her leave?" she questioned me sharply. I looked down at my feet.
"She's staying with a few friends who live in the town…" I trailed, not quite sure how to word it. I wasn't going to outright say who she was staying with, Mara told me that when answering a question that you don't know why it's being asked, don't answer with exact details. Exact details only help if you know you'll be gaining something from it.
"She's not in trouble, correct?" she added.
"No…" I answered, not sure if Mara was behaving around town. Most likely she was, she had the greasers to annoy.
"Alright." Mrs. Peabody nodded and stalked away, leaving me there standing awkwardly.
Mara returned later in the day, announcing her presence by scaring the life out of me when she flew into the room and tackled me. Johnny and Peanut followed behind her, obviously sneaking in.
"Heeere's Mara!" Mara cheered, rolling off of my limp body, only to fall off the bed with a thud, "Son of a bitch that hurt."
"Good to see you're back, Mara…." I trailed, unsurely.
But it was pretty good for Mara to be back.
And I could read her diary again, awesome.
March 21st
Back to the dorm, yeah!
But in other news, the sleepovers were, dare I say nice? I actually slept!
Bad news about the sleepover is I spilled out secrets to Johnny. But, I suppose he can keep a secret, right? Right.
Good to be back.
AN
So… I hold no excuse…. I apologize. I'll try and be faster next time, this chapter just refused to let me write it.